Diffractive optics is used in many applications such as optical storage, processing, sensing and communications. Diffractive optical elements (DOEs) are thin phase elements that operate by means of interference and diffraction to produce arbitrary distributions of light or to aid in the design of optical systems. DOEs are designed for applications with lasers (e.g., high power lasers). Further, DOEs are used for waveshaping. For example, DOEs can be used as multi-spot beam splitters in beam shaping and beam profile modification. DOE's can transform a single laser beam into various simple or complex structured light patterns. DOEs offer endless possibilities in different application fields. While standard refractive optical elements such as mirrors and lenses are often bulky, expensive and limited to a specific use, DOEs are generally lightweight, compact, easily replicated and able to modulate complicated wavefronts. DOEs are also useful in manipulating multi-spectral signals.